Timeline Effects

Speaking of shadows, Flash MX 2004 has the built-in ability to automate the creation of several effects, such as a drop shadow. (Nice segue, huh?)

Let’s get familiar with timeline effects by quickly adding a drop shadow to a graphic. After this, we’ll take a look at a custom timeline effect.

Adding A Drop shadow In 30 Seconds Or Less

To implement the drop shadow effect, we’ll use the same process I use any time I want to test out a new effect very quickly. I draw a box on the stage, convert it to a symbol, and apply the effect to it. In fact, this process is what sparked the idea for Flash Out of the Box.

To create the shadow:

Create a new Flash document and save it as drop_shadow.fla in the 06 folder.